Leakos, D’Ag Take Gold at Paul Short

The Paul Short Invitational was the hottest ticket in town – literally. Mother Nature decided to make the conditions “hot” and “humid” early on in the day, just to see how the teams would react. There were quite a few runners hurting at the end of the races due to the intense running conditions (weather and competition), so much so that by 1pm that ambulances had turned into “obstacles” for runners to avoid at the start. But there were others who pushed through and showed Mother Nature what they were made of.

Harvard’s James Leakos won the men’s Gold 8km Race in 23:13, becoming the first Ivy winner since 2003 when Columbia’s Steve Sundell won back-to-back in 2002 and 2003. Leakos was near the front of the pack at the first mile, but he started to run off by the 6km mark on the course. He held on to win by 13 seconds over Mike Biwott of American International University. Leakos’ previous best finish at Paul Short was 5th back in 2011. Leakos’ was joined in the top 20 finishers by three other Ivy runners: Dartmouth’s Will Geoghegan (3rd) and John Bleday (8th), and Harvard teammate Maksim Korolev (12th). These strong showings propelled both Dartmouth and Harvard to place in the top 5 of the Gold Race team races. Dartmouth finished 2nd overall, 4 points ahead of Georgetown and 15 points behind team champion Indiana University. Harvard finished 4th in the Gold Race team standings.

Princeton won the Brown 8km Race in a dramatic manner – their first finisher, Connor Martin, almost did not finish the race. He was in 2nd place coming down the final grassy stretch, about 5 seconds behind race winner Khari Bowen (Monmouth), when Martin collapsed with less than 10 feet left to go. Martin managed to get onto his hands and knees and crawled towards the finish line, trying to keep ahead of the fast charging runners from Albany and Canisius College. He collapsed for a second time at the edge of the finish matt, but his competition bib sensor was registered by the finish line and awarded him 2nd place, 2 seconds ahead of the next finisher.

In the women’s competition, Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino easily defended her invitational title in the women’s gold 6km race, besting her 2012 time by 14 seconds. Her final time, 19:44, is the second-fastest 6km race time for the course. However, D’Agostino was hidden early on in the race. Cornell’s Rachel Sorna led the race at Mile 1 with Columbia’s Waverly Neer just a step behind. D’Agostino took command of the race by Mile 2 while Neer battled with the chase pack for 2nd place. Neer finished in 3rd while Sorna took 5th in the individual race. Other Ivies in the top 20 included Dartmouth’s Dana Giordano (9th), Harvard’s Emily Reese (12th) and Viviana Hanley (14th), Cornell’s Emily Shearer (16th), and Columbia’s Leila Mantilla (17th). The strength of Dartmouth’s individual runners surprised many as Dartmouth finished 2nd in the Gold Race team competition. The women’s team was so excited to get their “trophy cake”, as D’Agostino called it when she received the team award from race officials. Cornell women, the defending invitational champions, finished 4th in the Gold Race team standings.

Full team results for the Ivy teams are available below. Full results can be found on the race website.

Team Results:

Women Gold Race: 48 teams

2. Dartmouth College Time Pace

305 1 Abbey D’Agostino, Sr 19:44 5:17

309 9 Dana Giordano, So 20:38 5:32

306 22 Sarah Delozier, Jr 21:01 5:38

312 43 Alison Lanois, Jr 21:19 5:43

317 50 Hannah Rowe, Sr 21:26 5:45

Total Time = 1:44:08 Total Places = 125

4. Cornell University Time Pace

298 5 Rachel Sorna, Sr 20:26 5:29

296 16 Emily Shearer, Sr 20:51 5:35

297 29 Elizabeth Simpson, Sr 21:05 5:39

301 62 Bori Tozser, Jr 21:30 5:46

299 70 Taylor Spillane, Fr 21:34 5:47

Total Time = 1:45:26 Total Places = 182

5. Columbia University Time Pace

269 3 Waverly Neer, Jr 20:15 5:26

268 17 Leila Mantilla, So 20:54 5:36

273 38 Danika Simonson, Sr 21:17 5:42

266 60 Chelsea Carrick, Sr 21:29 5:45

272 85 Samantha Siler, Fr 21:40 5:48

Total Time = 1:45:35 Total Places = 203

7. Harvard University Time Pace

560 12 Emily Reese, Sr 20:42 5:33

553 14 Viviana Hanley, Jr 20:45 5:34

555 23 Morgan Kelly, Sr 21:01 5:38

552 81 Jen Guidera, Jr 21:39 5:48

551 90 Sarah Gillespie, Fr 21:44 5:49

Total Time = 1:45:51 Total Places = 220

16. Brown University Time Pace

113 31 Heidi Caldwell, Sr 21:08 5:40

121 34 Lily Harrington, So 21:15 5:42

118 123 Leah Eickhoff, Jr 22:02 5:54

114 137 Alexandra Conway, Jr 22:09 5:56

128 145 Lucy Van Kleunen, Fr 22:13 5:57

Total Time = 1:48:47 Total Places = 470

17. University of Pennsylvania Time Pace

1686 45 Cleo Whiting, Fr 21:22 5:44

1680 104 Madison Holleran, Fr 21:53 5:52

1679 107 Elyssa Gensib, So 21:55 5:52

1685 133 Clarissa Whiting, Fr 22:08 5:56

1681 136 Kersie Jhabvala, Sr 22:09 5:56

Total Time = 1:49:27 Total Places = 525

Men’s Gold Race: 47 teams.

2. Dartmouth College Time Pace

2263 3 Will Geoghegan, Sr 23:46 4:47

2259 7 John Bleday, Sr 24:05 4:51

2274 25 Henry Sterling, Sr 24:33 4:57

2275 28 Silas Talbot, Jr 24:38 4:58

2267 43 Curtis King, So 24:46 4:59

Total Time = 2:01:48 Total Places = 106

4. Harvard University Time Pace

2473 1 James Leakos, Sr 23:13 4:41

2472 11 Maksim Korolev, Sr 24:13 4:53

2470 44 Will Geiken, Jr 24:47 5:00

2471 53 Lukas Gemar, Jr 24:53 5:01

2478 58 Tom Purnell, So 24:56 5:01

Total Time = 2:02:02 Total Places = 167

7. Yale University Time Pace

3816 29 Kevin Dooney, So 24:38 4:58

3823 38 John McGowan, Jr 24:44 4:59

3814 57 Alexander Conner, So 24:55 5:01

3828 64 Duncan Tomlin, So 25:01 5:02

3824 69 Isa Qasim, Jr 25:06 5:04

Total Time = 2:04:24 Total Places = 257

11. University of Pennsylvania Time Pace

3560 24 Thomas Awad, So 24:33 4:57

3567 73 Conner Paez, Sr 25:08 5:04

3571 79 Brendan Smith, So 25:09 5:04

3573 119 Nicholas Tuck, Fr 25:33 5:09

3569 149 Brendan Shearn, Fr 25:45 5:11

Total Time = 2:06:08 Total Places = 444

21. Brown University Time Pace

2125 66 Mark McGurrin, Jr 25:04 5:03

2131 103 Colin Savage, Sr 25:25 5:07

2116 133 Jeff Bush, Sr 25:40 5:10

2114 138 Stephen Bourguet, Fr 25:42 5:11

2121 161 Ben Halpin, Jr 25:50 5:12

Total Time = 2:07:41 Total Places = 601

31. Cornell Time Pace

2248 83 David Melly, Jr 25:17 5:06

2245 98 Tyler Kawalec, So 25:23 5:07

2246 205 Kieran Kinnare, Jr 26:13 5:17

2244 209 Zack Israel, Fr 26:14 5:17

2240 260 James Gowans, Fr 26:40 5:22

Total Time = 2:09:47 Total Places = 855

Men’s Brown Race:

1. Princeton Time Pace

3038 2 Connor Martin, Jr 25:15 5:05

3046 9 Michael Williams, Sr 25:40 5:10

3040 13 Eddie Owens, Jr 25:46 5:12

3039 29 Jack Leahy, Fr 26:03 5:15

3042 41 William Paulson, Fr 26:19 5:18

3037 74 Brett Kelly, So 26:45 5:23

3045 140 Garrett Rowe, Sr 27:25 5:32

Total Time = 2:09:03 Total Places = 94

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 5th, 2013 at 3:58 pm. It is filed under Athletes, Spotlight.
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